Part Three Reading: (Items 31-45)

Choose the best answer.

Passage (Items 31-36)

A Slow Awakening

(1)      Around 270 million people have left China's countryside to work in urban areas, many of them leaving their children in the care of a lone parent , grandparents, relatives or other guardians. By 2010 there were 61 million of these “left-behind children”, according to the All-China Women's Federation. In an order released on February  14th the government has at last shown that it recognises the problems caused by the splintering of so many families. The document acknowledges that there has been a "strong reaction" from the public to the plight of affected children. It describes improving their lot as "urgent”.

(2)      That is clearly right. There have been numerous stories in recent years. revealing the horrors some of these children endure. Last year four siblings left alone in the south-west province of Guizhou apparently committed suicide by drinking pesticide. Numerous sex abuse cases involving left-behind children have come to light.

(3)      The new proposals look sensible enough : minors may not be abandoned entirely; local institutions such as schools and hospitals must do more to notify the authorities of cases of abuse or neglect; social workers should monitor the welfare of left-behind children. Sadly, however, the government's suggested remedies will achieve little.

They largely replicate recent laws and policies designed to protect children (not just left-behind ones), which have been almost universally unenforced. It is already illegal to allow minors to live alone, for example. There is no indication that the new recommendations will be made law or implemented any more rigorously.

(4)      The new scheme mentions the importance of giving urban hukou, or household-registration certificates, which are needed to gain access to public services such as education and health care. Most migrants leave their children in the countryside because they do not have such papers. In December the government announced plans to make it easier for migrants to gain urban hukou privileges. ___ 35 ___ few casual labourers are likely to fulfil the still-strict conditions that must be met to qualify. 31. What does the title "A Slow Awakening seem to imply? l. The migrants wake up too late for their long commute to the city. 2. The government should have addressed the problem or the left-behind children sooner, 3. The public should not have waited so long to show their concern for the welfare of the left behind children. A. The public needs to aeknowledge the still-strict conditions that must be met to qualify.

The word or phrase that best completes the blank in the last sentence is ____.